The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1887-07-07
TEACHERS ASSOCIATION.
Professor Bickler's Able Address
Refore the Assoc,at1on

that lately held its session in Dallas. Pro-
fessor Bickler, of Austin, held this office,
and an extract, as published in the News,
is here given:
"The president then delivered his an
nual address, which contained the follow
ing interesting features:
"Texas has caught the spirit of the age.
She has fallen into line with her older
sisters, to vie with them in making the
world better and happier by founding
and fostering, as best she can, asylums.
schools and institutions of learning,
where the hope and flower of the country,
without regard to sex or race, is trained
physically and intellectually and morally.
While we must lament, on the one hand,
the failure of the Tween
tieth legislature to create at
least two more normal schools, and to
make provisions for the continuance of
the summer normals, which have done so
much for the advancement of sound edu-
cation; we have good reasons to rejoice,
on the other hand, that laws were passed,
enlarging the hitherto limited power of
the superintendent of public instruction,
providing for the better and more equit-
able distribution of the school fund and
|
tendent. Our rural schools will now have
new life infused into them, and of neces-
sity become more efficient. doubt very
much whether the last mentioned salutery
measures of school reform would so soon
have seen the light of day had 1t not been
for our association. Permit me, in this
connection, to congratulate you, fellow
teachers, upon another fond hope realized
within this current year. The people OF
Texas have seen fit, under the new law,
which makes the Office of superintendent
of public instruction elective, to elevate
to that very responsible and hon
orable position practical teacher
This is an act of Justice as well as
source of extreme qualification to the
profession. 1t virtually admits that good
can come from Nazareth. Far be it from
me to even as much as cast shadow OF
reproach upon the successful administra-
ton of Colonel B. M. Baker, the honored
and accomplished predecessor OF the
present incumbent, Prof. Oscar Fl. Cooper.
, But cannot help expressing JOY and de-
! light at the ultimate triumph of a. just
principle. There is another question of
vital importance that shou engage serl-
r GUS attention. 1t is this: How can the
4 demand for enlightened, energetic and
: wcll-tralned teachers be supplied in the
{ absence of the necessary professional or
g normal schools? The city high schools,
, 1t is true, can meet this demand, to some
e extent, at least, by adding to their currl-
g cuum post graduate normal course.
y Yet, this is at best but temporary ex-
e pedient. In the opinion of all thought
: full teachers, the time has come when
J, chair for the art and science of teaching
3 should be established in our state univer-
i sity. "The subject which involves all
q other Subjects" says Herbert Spencer,
' sand, therefore, the subject in which the
. education of everyone should eliminate, Is
2 the theory and practice of education
q Why cannot the university come to the
, rescue in this matter of permanent nor
NAL department, as it has so cheerfully
a done in the matter of a summer nor
n NAL?
8 X X X X 4
y Having provided for well-trainet
!. teachers, imbued with the true profes
sional spirit, possessed of the love ant
faculty for imparting knowledge ant
o moulding character, we may now safel.
: commit to their trust the child for thu
| ndTLDOulOuS uONOlO plllOho VI Aoo PhJ
: mental and moral nature, leaving to the
9 family and the church the sacred duty o
intoxicating religious truths. If tn
70 school wishes to do its whole duty 1t mus
i lay good physical as well as mental an
moral foundation. For the veal of man
as Role says and every rational man con
I. cedes, resteth not only in the mind an
the virtues thereof, but in the body ais
y and in the prosperous state of the same
There is world of sound wisdom in tn
saying that the first requisite to success
50 in life is "to be good animal,
10 and to be a nation of good animal
I. is the first condition to national pro
l. =, perity. Mems sano in corpore sano is
. biological truth that needs no demon
A. stration. Yet, how sadly neglected il
most of our schools is physical education
u 1t cannot be denied that we have commo
70 dious, well heated, well lighted and we
10 ventilated school houses, furnished wit
comfortable seats and desks. We hav
y recently added also to our course of studio
20 that most important science-hygien
ie But we do not practice what it teaches
u we set at defiance the cardinal law {
o. health. Exercise the body. The ferc
" competition engsndered by the struggl
w for existence has unfor tunately force
10 the modern school to attach undue in
10 portance to the cultivation of the int
10 lect, much to the detriment of body an
!, soul.
IL 4 4 4
10 In our plan for intellectual training I'll
~ evil lies not in not doing enough, bI
II rather in doing too much; we practice III
20 natural brain forcing. The laws of New
70 ton and Keppler governing the physic
cV universe are not more unerring in the
u operation LOT more universal in their a.
u plicstion than are the laws of mind {
10 enunciated by Locke, Pastalozzi ar
all Froebel. To violate these laws is to 81
rs against God and man. Pastalozzi, TIL
greatest and best of modern teacher
laws down this cardinal law.
In its order and its method educatiC
must conform to the natural process
ny mental evolution. Do we obey this la
py as we ought to? Do we follow the ord,
NV of nature and proceed from the sim pie
"a to the complex, from the concrete to I'll
III abstract? Do we not teach mai
" things rather than much of
* few things? Do we not teach Fl
nh the school more than for practical lif